My friend and I have been giving each other "beginning/ending with" sentences to motivate ourselves to go back to writing (good God there are far too many "to"s in one sentence) and here it is. This piece actually has quite a bit of significance to me, personally.
_______
My breath caught in my chest as I stood in front of my ful-length mirror,
or whatever was left of it.
Shattered.
Fragments of the mirror lay scattered on the floor, and I stared in
disbelief and horror at the damage for a few silent moments before dropping to
my knees, frantically gathering the pieces in my hands.
"No... not my precious... who would've done such a horrid thing?"
I muttered to myself, ignoring the shards that cut into my flesh. All that I
could think of was that I had to collect every single fragment... and then
what? Pray that it could be restored? Somewhere in the distance, I thought I
heard a bell chime, but it was soon put out of my mind.
Soon enough, I managed to collect all the pieces. Had I been more focused,
I would've realised that though my hands and fingers were covered with blood
from the cuts, not one single shard had a speck of blood on it. In fact, there
was a slightly reddish hue to them, almost as though they soaked up my blood
like a sponge.
"Please, oh please oh please..." I chanted, praying against all
odds as I tried to piece them back together. It has to work, it just has to!
What would I do if I never get to see Him again? No, that just cannot happen. I
musn't think like that! The faint sound of a bell chiming reached my ears for a
second time, though like the first, I paid no heed to it and continued with my
task.
It was rather daunting, but I managed to fully reassemble my mirror after
an hour or so. Good, even the tiny shards are in place. Satisfied, yet sick
with anticipation, I turned to face It like I always have, every single day
without fail, for the past ten years. Cracks marred the smooth surface, but I
hope He wouldn't mind. Well, here goes.
"Ren, are you there? Can you hear me? Please, I beg of you, please
appear before me," I pleaded with a note of desperation in my voice.
Silence.
Tears threatened to spill from my eyes when it happened - a bell chimed for
the third time, bringing along with it a gust of wind. Or was it the wind that
carried the sound? In any case, the surface of the mirror in front of me began
to flicker, and a male figure started to materialize.
My heart leapt with joy, but it was a moment too soon. Instead of the face
I was expecting, I found myself looking at darkness. Literally darkness. The
figure that appeared never took on a definitive form like it always did, but
remained a shadow.
"Ren? It is you, isn't it? What's the matter? Why haven't you
taken form?" I asked with a sense of panic.
Slowly, a blood red gash appeared on the shadow's face, resembling a mouth,
and cracked into a grin. I was spooked, but stood my ground, unflinching.
Seeming to take my stance as a positive sign, the shadow took a step forward,
still grinning.
"Aki..." said the figure, arms outstretched. That's it! That's
the unmistakable voice I know, the same voice that comforted me through all my
lonely and painful days.
"Ren!" I reached out my hand to him, and miraculously, as the
distance between us closed, his hand penetrated through the glass, and for the
first time in ten years, we touched.
As Ren fully stepped out of the mirror, he pulled me into a tight embrace,
and I relished in the feeling. Ah.... how I've dreamt of this moment. After a
decade of waiting.... finally, all my dreams and prayers have been answered.
But then...
"Ren, why are you still a shadow?"
"Does it bother you so?" he asked.
""Not really, but... it's just..."
"Creepy?" he voiced out my exact thoughts, though I remained
quiet. "Would you love me any less if I remained this way forever?"
"No!" I protested. "Just... I just want to know what's going
on..."
"Aki," he stepped away from our embrace and cupped my face in his
hands instead, making me look at his featureless face, save for that red
gash of a grin. "This has always been me. What you saw, the features you
thought to be mine, was nothing more than your imagination. I am but your
mirrored self, the part you've always kept secret, the true self you tried
desperately to hide from the world. I am you, as you are me."
I gasped, my eyes widening in shock. "This..."
"How else could we possibly be bonded this way, my fair self? Haven't
you ever wondered how I've always seemed
to know your exact thoughts, your exact emotions?" he caressed my cheek
lovingly, the grin never leaving his 'face'.
"I....." what Ren said made sense, and yet, "But I love you
so much, how-"
"As I love you, Aki. Does it make any difference knowing that the one
person you love the most is yourself? Two sides of the same coin, the dark
reflection of thy fair self, one split into two, two existing as one." Ren
slowly brought his face closer to mine, and I stared at the red gash, hypnotized.
"We are one, and we shall reunite where we belong..." Without
realising it, those words left my lips as Ren completed the distance between
us, our mouths pressing together, like the Ouroboros.
~
Invisible to everyone, a figure looked on and sighed. A charred patch was
left in place of Suzushii Aki, the mirror looking as though it never shattered.
"Looks like this is another failure. Who will be the one who breaks the
curse?"
With a swish of his cloak, the figure disappeared into the night sky, leaving behind the chime of bells resonating in the air.
